Nov 21, 2018

You will
come across metal, glass, ceramic, nonstick, enameled and a host of materials
used to make cookware that you may use on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day.
However, you may not know that all these materials affect your health, few in a
positive way and most in the negative way. Therefore, it goes without saying
that you will need to choose the right material to prevent the possibilities of
any severe health issues.

image:pixabay.com/en/pot-steaming-hot-cooking-kitchen-820012

Things to know

Growing concerns
over the dire consequences of metal contamination from the pots and pans,
effects of plastic leaching toxins and the potentially deadly fumes emitted
from nonstick cookware have forced manufacturers and scientists to come up with
newer and better ideas. Here is a brief insight to a few popular cookware
materials. Remember that this is not an exhaustive list but it is certainly a reasonably
good aide to make that change.

Metal Cookware: This category includes aluminum, copper,
stainless steel, and cast iron. These are durable, easy to clean, use and
maintain. You will get these at a wide price range but the concern is regarding
the leaching metal into the food, especially acidic food. Aluminum can cause Alzheimer’s
disease, neurod egenerative disorders and affect the brain. Stainless steel may leachnickel and
cast iron may raise iron levels.

Enamel Coating: Cooking in enamel coated pots over
metal may prevent the potential leaching but till the time this coating is not
damaged or scratched.

Teflon Cookware: Often advertised as the best cookware, these are also not free from health risks. It is
the PTFE content that releases toxic fumes when heated. This PFOA chemical also
called C8 can cause serious concern though it needs less oil to cook.

Natural Material: There are a lot of inert natural
materials used to make cookware that are safer but the problem is that these
may not be a great alternative to other materials when you need to cook on a
stovetop. Though some of these can be used in the oven, but for frying you will
require something else.

Clay: You will have to look for quality if you want
to use clay pots just like those with ceramic glaze. Sometimes these are contaminated
with heavy metals, other unwanted garbage and industrial runoff on the ground. If
you buy these from a company that test for these things regularly, these should
be fine to cook tender meat, stews, roasted chicken as well.

Glass: This is the most inert material that will
not leach anything to the food eliminating health risks but then are a misfit
for stovetop cooking.

The long
and short of the story is that, no matter what type of cookware you choose,
make sure that you buy it from a reputed company that tests for toxic elements
and does not have their factory in countries such as China that has very loose
environmental laws.